TGFB Cookie Swap: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

One of my favorite blogs posted a few weeks ago about the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap! I absolutely love the idea of getting packages of delicious goodies in the mail (who doesn't?) so I of course joined in on the fun!

We each were supposed to bake 3 dozen of the same cookie and ship one dozen to 3 other bloggers that we were matched with. In return we get three dozen different cookie packages back! It's a win-win!!

I looked through a lot of cookie recipes and decided to do one I've never done before. I also look through the blogs of my matches to check out there style and taste. I settled on a Southern Living cookie recipe and added my own twists.

They really came out great and were perfect for shipping. If you have relatives in far places and you want to bake some love to send to them, this is a keeper! The oatmeal in these wasn't over powering it  was mainly there for a bit of texture and chewiness.

This oatmeal cookie also had no raisins. I not a fan of raisins in my cookies and neither was one of my matches so that worked out great. The chocolate chips instead of raisins was a great swap and was just delicious in this oatmeal cookie!

Pin it, bookmark it, but definitely bake it! They were outstanding!

Cannellini Bean “Meatballs” with Tomato Sauce

We are constantly on the look out for delicious vegetarian cuisine. While both The Other Williams and I love meat, we do try to have 1-3 vegetarian dinners a week. We like our vegetarian meals to make us feel like we're eating meat.

Texture plays a big part in making a good vegetarian dish great. We added mushrooms to the original recipe to give us a little firmer texture. The meatballs are outstanding and the red pepper really makes these balls pop.

Whenever we make meatballs of any kind we make a full batch and freeze the rest. These bean balls were no different. They froze beautifully. You could certainly freeze them with or without the tomato sauce.

Eggs Baked Over Sautéed Mushrooms, Leeks and Spinach

There is nothing better than eggs. They are almost a complete food, meaning they have just about all the essential nutrients that the body needs.

I have long day-dreamed of owning our own chickens and walking out to the coop to collect farm fresh eggs. I'm also pretty sure that I'm making it into some glamorous, simple job that is really hard work and very dirty. Maybe one day I'll find out for myself. For now, we purchase our delicious eggs from a local farm about 30 minutes up the road.

We cooked this recipe up for a delicious lunch/brunch but it could be used for any meal. It's vegetarian and gluten-free and it's truly delicious! I love that they call for leeks. Leeks are one of my favorite veggies this time of year. We put them in soups and meat pies all winter. When cooked properly, leeks are a beautiful thing.

Everything in this dish is savory and rich, from the butter to the egg yolks to the wine/sherry you really can't go wrong with this combination in my book.

Buttery Smashed Tiny Potatoes

Don't these potatoes look delicious?

They are so simple to make and are so yummy! You should make them tonight. Go ahead, write in on your to do list, I'll wait....

Italian Wedding Soup

The weather outside is getting colder and The Other Williams and I start craving soups this time of year. Soups have so many benefits it makes it difficult to ignore them. The most important one for us is the comfort a warm bowl of soup can bring on a cold day.

This soup is truly a masterpiece in a bowl. It's delicate yet hardy. It has amazing textures and the flavor is outstanding. It reminds me of chicken noodle soup only better. Italian Wedding soup is traditionally a green vegetable, meat (meatballs or sausage) and a clear broth. I think the key to making this amazing is good homemade broth.

Sweet Potato Hash Egg Bake

Sunday mornings are by far my favorite morning of the week. We spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon in our PJ's. We read and play online and just relax. Almost every Sunday morning I'm also treated to a fabulous brunch made by The Other Williams. Yes, I'm totally spoiled. Sometimes it's bacon and eggs; sometimes its homemade sausage gravy with biscuits but whatever it is it beats the pants off my weekday breakfast of oatmeal or egg white omelet.

This past Sunday we enjoyed a delicious Sweet Potato Hash Egg Bake that The Other Williams just made up on the spot. Isn't she awesome? This is a delicious, healthy breakfast or brunch recipe that is both filling and not too shabby on the calories.

We love a good runny yolk, but you could easily just cook the eggs a little longer. The yolk creates a delicious "sauce" to mix around with the sweet potatoes. Speaking of sweet potatoes, it's really the star of this dish. If you like sweet and savory together definitely give this one a try!

Happy Thanksgiving from Williams Kitchen

Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays. I mean, it's totally a food holiday! Here are the 5 foodie things we are most grateful for this year:

1. Our Food Magazine Subscriptions

Canning: Turkey Veggie Soup

Turkeys are going on sale every where right now and not being one to miss a good deal we picked up one at the local supermarket last week. We don't normally cook turkey on Thanksgiving because we go over to my in-laws to eat but we like to grab at least one turkey during this time of year to throw in the freezer or to can.

We try to make several meals out of one turkey or chicken for the two of us. This recipe will make convenient grab and go lunches or a super fast dinner.

We paid around $8 for our turkey and here's what we did with it. The Other Williams cooked the turkey in the oven first. We got:

• 2 turkey breast to slice for several sandwiches
• 3 turkey and gravy dinners for 2. One we ate the other 2 went in the freezer
• 4 quarts of turkey veggie soup with turkey broth
• 2 quarts of yummy turkey broth (click here to see how we make chicken/turkey broth)

Canning Dried Beans

I love canning. I wish we were able to do a garden at our house but since we can't we still try to can local/regional produce. Pulling a jar of delicious food from the cabinet that you lovingly "put up" is a great feeling. Mainly we can tomatoes and  green beans, but this weekend we're trying our hand at dried beans. We canned black, navy, and kidney beans.

Irish Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

The night of the election I was just a little anxious about the presidential race and needed something to busy my hands. Baking has always been the best way to calm my nerves.

I took a chocolate chip cookie recipe from Cooks Illustration and added booze. I know right, everything is better with booze! These cookies are just delicious and absolute perfection!

I made mine thick because I like them soft in the center and crispy on the edge. But the recipe is totally versitle you can add nuts, white chocolate chips, or whatever you have on hand.